Following months of low activity, the festive season has added some fervour to the Indian auto market. While it doesn’t make up for anything, it sure infuses enthusiasm at dealerships where sales have been lean for long periods.
In a regulatory filing, Mahindra said, ‘This festive season on the day of Dhanteras the Auto Division of the Company delivered close to 13,500 vehicles across the country. This figure was substantially higher than the deliveries last year on Dhanteras.’
Surprisingly, that’s even more than what Hyundai delivered on the given day. Hyundai, India’s second largest car maker had delivered 12,500 cars on Dhanteras day. Mahindra probably has also included commercial vehicles in the delivery data. Maruti has not revealed their Dhanteras day delivery figures. Given the numbers, October sales is likely to be a green peak for most manufacturers in the backdrop of low sales.
On the sales front, sales on Dhanteras is almost the same as the number of vehicles Mahindra sold in September 2019 – 13,963 units. Despite three new launches in recent months, it’s the Mahindra Bolero that continues to be the brand’s topseller. Marazzo, which entered the market with a bigger sales volume has in recent month seen sales drop by upward of 60 percent.
One of the reasons sales on the day and the days preceding it are reported as higher owing to lower base sales. In 2018, industry reports point to the worst festive performance in 5 years. Passenger vehicle retail sales were down 14 percent, and two-wheeler retail sales had dropped 12 percent. Also, keeping in mind current market situation, buyers have postponed purchase decisions. With ongoing offers and discounts, purchase decisions have come to fruition with buyers making the most of festive season offers.
Dealerships have had to devise festive period discounts and offers to keep prospective buyers interested. For Mahindra, this ranges from 56k on KUV100 NXT, and over a lakh on Alturas G4. Additional incentives are designed to help sell BS4 vehicle inventory.
Earlier in the month, Mahindra and Ford announce a joint venture that’s scheduled to be operational by mid-2020. This foretells based on vehicle development, sharing, leveraging, and sourcing for both entities.
In enhancing it’s position, Mahindra is working with Revv to offer a subscription-based service to retail customers. The vehicle range on offer includes Alturas G4, KUV100 Nxt, Marazzo, Scorpio, TUV300, XUV300 and XUV500. New vehicles are available for a period of one to four years. Subscription price starts at Rs 19,720 per month and this takes care of insurance and routine maintenance charges.
